AN ESSAY IN JUSTIFICATION OF NDA-II OROP
Dear
all,
Brig vidyasagar is a personal friend
and in his life as a veteran, done a lot for the veterans and veer naris.
I am a member of tsewa. Shiva will
remain my personal friend, come what may, but i will carry no brief for him in
matters concerning our, (Myself and over 1300 sisters, brothers & friends
on our fb page), sole goal, “restoration of the lost honour and dignity of the
soldier”.
bRig vidyasagar has circulated the following letter written by
him, aparently to a fellow member, in response to a letter from the latter.
I have reproduced the letter of brig
vidyasagar in full with my take here and there, but have mostly left you to
read and form your own opinion on the issues covered in the letter.
YOU MAY COMMUNICATE YOUR COMMENTS ON HIS LETTER TO brig vidyasagar on his e-mail id.
samuel
Dear Madhusudhan Nair Sir,
You are entitled to your views. I am
not upset with your mail where in you have taken my name and ascribed something
to me. I have no ambitions at my stage of life. I am only a small fry raising
my voice for betterment of Ex-Servicemen especially JCOs, OR and Family
pensioners. We in TSEWA are using available avenues to get justice to veterans.
I am not a supporter of BJP or NDA – II.
I am not a supporter of BJP or NDA – II.
My intention is NOT rpt Not to make
you change your opinion. But I am sure you will read this long mail of mine
with an open mind. If you do not like my mail, just throw it.
TSEWA does not take any decision based on Vidyasagar’s likes or dislikes.
Unlike a gang of four or five in the so called ESM Association at JM, decision
on any matter is taken by majority vote.
Pl examine the antics of one organisation which is doing tamasha at
Jantar Mantar and collecting huge funds without giving account of how much they
have collected and what are they doing with that.
They state that they will put up
their accounts in their AGM. If they have nothing to hide why are they so shy
of showing their accounts? They have to hide because they spend the money for
travel by air, have press conferences in star hotels, humour press walas with
big gifts, travel by Executive Class by Shatabdi and Rajdhani (fares are equal
to air fares). They want to be in front of TV Cameras all the time.
I have been
with them for some time and I know pretty well how they function. It is a
secret society where all decisions are taken by gang of five. Anyway let them
do what they want with their money collected from veterans.
Let me come to points one by one.
I am sure you must have read Bhagat
Singh Koshiyari committee report. They do admit that gap in pensions between
past pensioners and present pensioner is too wide and needs to be bridged.
Can you, Sir, show me one para where the Committee said pension
equalisation has to be done every year? Pension equalisation can be done once
in 10 years or once in 5 years or even once in one year.
If all the past Govts did only show lip symapthy for OROP. Even present
H.E President as Finance Minister and Chairman of Gp of Ministers ruled out
OROP as not administratively, judicially and financially possible. Atleast NDA
– II did give us OROP in some form by equalising our pensions once in five
years. What would have we done had the Govt ignored us like previous Govts?
Pension Equalisation. I also would be happy if pensions are equalised every year. I have done
calculations and can prove to anyone that pensions need to be equalised only
once in three years as gap in pensions between past and present pensioners
become a bit wide if it is beyond three years. If OROP has to be implemented
every year as many of us are demanding can you imagine sir, what is the work
load involved in generating Corr PPOs for 30 lakh pensioners every year?
PCDA(Pensions) Allahabad and other CDAs have to print six copies of Corr PPOs.
Who will feed data of 30 lakh pensioners into software?
Can you imagine how much staff is required to do this job? Software can
give you result provided data is fed into it. New software needs different
fields and data entry operators have to physically feed data into software. How
many staff are required to feed the data? Many veterans die and many new
pensioners join.
So every year data entry has to be
done in such a manner some pensioners have to be taken off and 65000 have to be
added every year. Six copies are required to be printed. So how much time is required
to generate 1.80 lakh Corr PPOs and how much money is spent on despatching to
five organisations including the pensioner? The increase in pension for Sepoy
is not more than Rs 50 per month and do you want Govt of India to spend Rs 63
crores per annum (Rs 7 per Corr PPO x 1.80 lakhs x 5 recipients) to print and
despatch Corr PPOs for 30 lakh pensioners.
I do admit :
What NDA – II gave is not OROP but one time increase (OTI). I feel it is
better than nothing. Many NCOs and family pensioners are going to be benefitted
by this. Many keep saying Definition of OROP. There is, Sir, no definition but
only explanation of OROP. Pension equalisation is the crux of the issue. Now
periodicity can be debated. Should it be every year or once in three years or
once in five years is what can be argued about.
Base Year.
Calendar year 2013 has been taken as base year to fix pensions. If
pensions are taken at Jul 2013 then it does not matter whether it is Jul 2013
or Jun 2014. If pension arrears are to be calculated from Jul 2014, then
automatically pension fixation or equalisation has to be done w.e.f Jul 2014.
This point can be projected to Single Man Judicial Commission for adjudication.
More about this later.
Averaging of Maximum and Minimum Pensions. Even hon’ble Supreme Court in Maj Gen
SPS Vains Vs UOI case, MO Inasu case upheld argument that pensions earned by
past pensioners depending upon length of service(hence number of increments
earned) has to be taken into consideration. Even AFT Chandigarh while upholding
argument of 53 Maj Gens ruled that pension has to be fixed considering the
number of increments earned by the past pensioners in his last rank as on Jan
2006. That is how some Maj Gens are being enhanced pensions to Rs 36,000 pm
without DR and some are being paid Rs 32,000 compared to their minimum of Rs
30,350 as per the minimum of the fitment table of SAI 2/S/2008. Even 7th CPC
has recommended weightage to be given to increments earned. That is why the
averaging of Maximum and minimum comes into play.
Well how can one argue every one putting the same length of total
service to be given the pension of a person when pensioners have different
length of service in the last rank?
Those who served for longest period in the last rank get higher last
drawn emoluments. It is so simple as that.
(Samuel’s take : The SC has already ruled, in a case, involving
civilians, that anyone who has put in 20 years service is entitled to full
pension of 33 years!!!)
For example a pre – 2006 Colonel with
rank weightage (still in vogue) of seven years has to put in 26 years to get
full pension of Rs 27,795 without DR. Another Colonel who serves for 34 years
(54 age for super annuation– 20 age at commissioning) and earns may be 12 to 14
increments. Can this Col with such a long service of 34 years be treated at par
with Col who serviced for just 26 years? But unfortunately that is happening
today. A Colonel with 12 to 14 increments is in top of the scale and Col with
26 years’ service also get the same Rs 27,795. No benefit is given to Col with
34 years service for his 12 to 14 increments.
Consider another case. In some Corps,
officers and even JCOs & NCOs do get their promotions faster. They serve
for longer period in their last rank while others from other Corps /Regts serve
for lesser number of years in the last rank though both may put in same total
service i. e. Say 30 years. Even for pre- 2006 pensioners the one with longer
service in last rank got higher last drawn emoluments and higher pension than
the one with lesser number of years in the last rank. His last drawn emoluments
are less and hence his pension is less till Dec 2005. So to give benefit for
longer service in the last rank, this averaging comes into play. I cannot
understand the argument when I and my Inf coursemate though put in 32 years’
service get same pension when my inf coursemate was Brig for six years where as
I was only in my last rank for just 2 years and 7 months. Is it fair on my part
to demand same pension of my course mate who put in 6 years’ service in the
rank of Brig and who might have suffered more than me in that rank?
Single Man Judicial Commission. He is a retired Surpeme Court judge. He
neither belongs to Govt of India nor to veterans. He is an independent
authority who will listen to views of both the parties and submits his report
to the Govt of India six months from the day it is constituted.
(Samuel’s take: The independence of the judiciary, leave alone that of the retired
judges is legendary. History of independent India is replete with such one man
commissions. Retired CJI, P Sathasivam’s acceptance of the post of Governor of
Kerala four months after he retired as Chief Justice of India is widely seen as
inappropriate and as an act that could compromise the independence of the
judiciary).
The demand of TV loving ESM Association is it should be composed of five
and three of them are to be veterans. How can a prosecutor be jury and judge?
How can this commission be dominated by veterans? Is there any logic in this
demand?. On top of that the demand that report should be submitted in 15 days
is just not understood. It is nothing but foolishness on the part of people who
never dealt with Govt of India. In 15 days the Committee will not be allotted
even space to function leave alone other administrative arrangements required
to conduct adjudication.
TSEWA as per the majority view, (Samuel : Was there
an Special AGM on the issue), is that though OROP is not given as demanded but we are satisfied
with whatever the Govt of India has given under present economic conditions.
(Samuel’s take : The UPA – II battled a World wide
recession from 2008, which the rest of
the world is still battling, with crude shooting through the roof @ US$120/barrel.
As against that the World economic situation is much better, exports have
picked up and the crude import bill has been slashed by around US$ 80 billion).
We believe that we should gracefully accept whatever we get and later
project our grievances to Single Man Judicial Commission or Committee.
If we do not get justice then we have courts of law available to get
justice.
Has not 7th CPC recommended OROP to all Central Govt employees who
retire at the age of 60 years?
Justice AK Mathur being a retired
Supreme Court judge and Member (Judicial) in AFT Delhi Principal bench
recommended OROP to all because that is the law of land. Please read judgment
of hon’ble Suprem Court in Maj Gen SPS Vains Vs UOI 2008.
You may call me Jaichand and I do not mind it. (I leave
it to the judgment of the reader----- Samuel) In this free country everyone has
right to express his or her opinions freely and frankly. I do not expect you to
agree to my points of view.
Regards,
Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd)
Regards,
Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd)
csvidyasagar
9493191380
9493191380
